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Schoenbergs Serenade Op.

24: From Free Atonality to Serialism Jiradej Setabundhu Music Conservatory Rangsit University

Schoenbergs Serenade, Op. 24 is an interesting piece in many respects. With an unusual instrumentation comprising of clarinet, bass clarinet, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola and cello, it recalls Pierrot lunaire in its emphasis on timbre. This seven-movement work was finished in 1923, around the time that Schoenberg discovered the method of composing with twelve notes. While composing the Serenade, Schoenberg also worked on his Piano Suite, Op. 25, a work that would become his first complete twelve-tone composition. However, as the analysis following reveals, the Serenade was in fact the work where the composer tried out this method and therefore provided him with the foundation of the twelve-tone techniques. It is generally known that the middle movement of this work is a twelve-tone composition. However, other movements were not constructed totally in a free atonal style. A large portion of the work is based on a serial procedure. This is not clear in the first movement but gradually is more refined as the music progresses until it reaches the fourth movement. In this way, the Serenade is the piece that the serial technique was matured. Movement I: March The first movement introduces two important melodic ideas. The first is the main theme played by the clarinet (measures 9-15.) This melody, which will be referred to as melody 1A, together with measure 16 creates an eight-measure phrase. We will also consider melody 1A as a row, i.e. without its corresponding rhythm.

Example 1: Melody/row 1A. The second idea first appears in the viola part (measures 1-5) with the addition of the F# and B in the guitar. Melodically it is not as distinct as melody 1A, but it plays an important role in defining the structure of the movement. We will call this melody 1B and will treat it as a row as well.

Example 2: Melody/row 1B.

Schoenberg often superimposed melody 1A and 1B as in measures 9-14. Simultaneously he introduced a secondary motivic idea by partitioning melody 1B so that the cello plays a line built on fourth (D-A-C-G, E-A-F#-B, see Example 2), the second half of which may be seen as either an inversion or a retrograde of the first. Many consecutive fourths appearing vertically in the movement such as those in measure 15 may be traced back to this partitioning.

Example 3: Consecutive fourths derived from the row partitioning. The introduction from measures 1-8 is actually a strict outline of the main section (measures 9-16) where melody 1B reappears as mentioned above; the first two chords of the guitar in measure 1 are distributed in measure 9 between the two clarinets and violin; the G-F dyad of measure 5 is now in the mandolin and guitar parts in measure 13; lastly the 014 trichord (the Eb-E-G of measures 6-8) returns in measures 14-16. Likewise, measures 17-24 and 25-32 correspond to measures 1-8 and 9-16 respectively in that everything in the former are the inversion of the latter. The D, the first note of the movement, is the center of this process. Thus, the inversion of 1A begins with the F while the inverted 1B still begin with the same pitch class, D. It is reasonable to consider 1B as a ground bass. It appears many times throughout the movement both in its original form and in inversion. More importantly 1B also functions as a framework of the structure of the movement. Schoenberg developed his materials in two ways: using 1A and 1B as rows, that is, serially; and employing freer development of smaller units derived from both rows. In this way, the first movement is the alteration between these two methods of the row treatment. The diagram below identifies the appearances of 1B as either P or I.

After the first serial section, 1B is gradually shorter as the movement progresses (8 measures in the first section, 5 and 4 measures in the second serial section, 4 and 3 measures in the last section and even about 1 measure from measures 132-6.) Even though the serial use of 1A and 1B does appear from time to time in the free development sections, their treatments are in a smaller scale, and the ground bass function of 1B is not as apparent. This is clear when we contrast this with the ground bass of the last serial section where, although not all the pitches are presented, the emphasis of the fourth set out earlier in the cello is strong enough to recall the ground bass passages. The analysis of motivic development reveals the subtlety of Schoenbergs compositional method. Fragments of 1A and 1B are found in many places throughout. The first three pitch classes of 1A and 1B constitute the same set (016), to which the second chord of the guitar in measure 1 belongs. Parts of 1A are compatible with a diatonic scale (B-A#-F-Gb-Ab-Bb: fm-t-d-r-m) and a whole tone scale (Gb-Ab-Bb-C-E-Bb). These enable him to use such references whenever he needed (see example 3 for a whole tone passage.)

Example 4: A diatonic passage. The first part of the extension in measures 49-52 is the expansion of the idea in measure 16 and 32. Here all pitch classes are present except the C, D, E and G#, thus again creates a symmetrical pitch class distribution around the D, the center which Schoenberg set up since the beginning. The rest of the extension (measures 53-4) contains the first eight notes of 1B and its inversion while the mandolin supplies the last notes (the B and F) and the G#, the only pitch class absent in both the prime and inversion of 1B and the one forming, with the D, an axis of inversion for the movement. A similar idea is employed toward the end of the first free development where ten pitch classes are accumulated in measure 79, the missing ones are once again the D and G#.

Example 5: A passage emphasizing the D-G# axis. The first free development section begins with a rhythmic figure of melody 1A (measures 557) along with its first two notes (the B and A#.) However, the E following creates a tritone, making it compatible with T9I of 1B as well1 . The E-A-G# maintains the melodic contour and forms the interval classes 5 and 1, similar to the corresponding gesture in measure 10 (A#-FGb, see Example 1) while in fact functions as its inversion.

Example 6: A development utilizing ideas from 1A and 1B. More often, the first free development section treats elements of either 1A or 1B freely. The short rhythmic figure of 1A, for example, is used many times in measures 60-65; this always occurs with large intervals to imitate its first appearance in measure 10.

Example 7: A free development of 1A. Sometimes fragments of row 1A or 1B are treated with new rhythmic figures to achieve more variety. Measures 70-4 show this treatment with row 1B.

Example 8: A free development of 1B.

Inversion numbers are calculated around the D, the first note of the row.

Many fragments of 1A and 1B are found in measures 96-121, most of which are left incomplete after the initial first few notes. This leads to the saturation of the 016 trichord, especially in measures 116-21 where almost every figure is created solely from the first trichord of 1B.

Example 9: The 016 trichords. Schoenberg rounded off the movement with an extension of the last serial movement in a manner similar to measure 79 now eleven pitches without the G#. Many instruments emphasize the tritone and the 016 trichord. The movement ends with a 7-note chord with the D as the lowest pitch and a center.

Example 10: The use of tritone, the 016 trichord and a final chord with D as a center.

Movement II: Minuet The second movement is a conventional, three section form: Minuet-Trio-Minuet. Hemiola was introduced to create rhythmic ambiguity to the main themes, thus the Minuet may sound like a tune in a simple duple meter and the Trio a compound duple one.

Example 11: The Minuet and Trio melodies. Like the first movement, Schoenberg treated a specific melody as a row, and this procedure in turn defines the structure of the music. Here the row is the clarinet melody from measures 18, which we will refer to as 2A.

Example 12: Row 2A. The row is repeated by the violin in measures 9-16. There is no significant appearance between measures 17-25. Then it is played again from the last beat of measure 25 to measure 33, first by the clarinet, then by the viola and violin, occasionally in other transpositions.

Example 13: Application of row 2A with transpositions and inversion. The row is repeated in measures 33-40 by the cello. Measures 41-4 are similar to Measures 20-3, with no apparent use of the row. Thus, the form of the Minuet section may be summarized in this way:

It is important to note that although measures 1-8, 9-16, 26-33 and 34-40 all make use of a serial procedure, they do not necessarily sound alike. This is due to many shifts in rhythm and changes of transposition and inversion (especially in measure 26-33) which make it hard to recognize the resulted melodies. These sections, however, are still related to each other not only because of the 2A, but also because of the general use of the same accompanied parts. The serial treatment in the second movement differs from that of first movement in that here Schoenberg introduced extra notes to embellish the row. Nevertheless, these notes are treated carefully and most of the time form melodic gestures not unlike small motifs already embedded in the row itself. A few examples should be sufficient to demonstrate this procedure. According to the row order, the last note of the violin in measure 9 (the Db) should directly precede the C. This C is delayed because of three extra notes forming a small melodic fragment Db-Eb-B-C in measure 10. This fragment, however, turns out to be T7 of the first four notes of the row. The C in measure 10 in turn should be followed by the A-F-Ab, as indeed happens in measure 11, but this is preceded by another melodic fragment A-F-A#-D-C-B-Bb. The A# could be interpreted as the wrong notes of the correct version, the Ab to follow, or as either

T3I of notes 20-22 or T10I of notes 30-32 of the row2. The D-C-B-Bb fragment can be analyzed as R2 of notes 25-28, incidentally both of which belong to the same tetrachord as the first four notes of the row (0124.)

Example 14: Embellishments of the row. The accompaniment parts also reflect characteristics of 2A. In measure 1, the mandolin plays a four-note figure resembling the first four notes of the row3 while the guitar figure recalls notes 5-8.

Example 15: Melodic figures resembling the beginning of the row. The 014 trichord appears many times in the row as notes 2-4, 6-8, 10-12, 36-38, 38-40 and 41-43. Among these, the first three occurrences are most recognizable owing to their position in the row and their corresponding rhythmic figures. The trichord is used in the accompaniment in many places and in various forms. Longer serial passages utilizing 2A can also be seen in the accompaniment, for example, the mandolin part in measure 4 and the bass clarinet in measure 5 at T6. The free development sections contain fragments of the serial sections, although the long serial passages is mostly abandoned in favor of short fragments of the row or melodic contour quotation. Fragments derived from the first twelve notes of the row are found frequently.

Example 16: Fragments and melodic contours of row 2A in the free development sections. Next, let us look at the Trio, which is in a traditional three-part form.
2 3

Inversion numbers are calculated around the Gb, the first note of the row.

The Wilhelm Hansen edition misprinted the first note as Bb. The correct one should read Ab.

The outer section is characterized by the use of the new, shorter row (called 2B) as an ostinato. The middle section concentrates more on free application of the row without the characteristic ostinato.

Example 17: Row 2B and ostinato, mm.47-8. If we divide this row into 2 parts, we will find two important trichords, the 014 (G#-A-C) and the 016 (C-F#-G). We have already examined that the former plays an active role in row 2A of the Minuet. Additionally it is found toward the end of many phrases in the serial sections of the first movement and the Minuet. The guitar ostinato in Example 17 (F-C#-E) is but one example of its use in the Trio. The 016, as discussed earlier, is very prominent in the March. In the Trio it appears is various figures: as interval class 6 followed by class 1 (as in 2B) or as interval class 6 followed by class 5. The new melody played by the cello in measure 49 is closely related to 2B. Its first three notes is T5 of the beginning of the row, while the following C-F#-G brings it back to the original transposition. Schoenberg even demonstrated that the two are interchangeable when he combined 2B with the rhythmic figure of the cello melody of measure 49. Simultaneously, in the clarinet part, this cello melody were combined to the rhythmic figure previously associated with 2B.

Example 18: Interchangeability of the ostinato and the cello melody.

The cello melody in measure 49 also shows Schoenbergs concern for the accumulation of 12 pitches. From the beginning of the Trio to measure 48 there are only ten pitch classes. The eleventh, the D, appears as the first note of cello melody and the twelfth, the B, is prominently introduced in measure 51 as the highest note in the cello so far. Around the end of section A, Schoenberg once again assigned the 014 trichord a closing function. In measure 62-3, the clarinets and the violin play a succession of this set while the viola and cello establish two sets of 014 (F#-A-Bb and A-Bb-C#), similar to the guitar ostinato of Example 17 in their spacing. This ostinato returns in its original pitches in the form of a chord in the clarinet, viola and cello parts in measures 63-4.

Example 19: The 014 trichord around the end of the A section. Section B begins with a combination of the 014 trichord and 2B in prime and inversion. The first note of 2B is occasionally altered and its corresponding rhythmic figure as found in measure 45-8 is modified so that one feels like hearing new melodies.

Example 20: The altered 2B. Throughout section B, the 014 trichord is expanded and plays a significant melodic and harmonic roles, both directly such as the clarinet melody in measures 73-5, and indirectly such as the emphasis of interval class 4 in the chromatic passage between the clarinet and viola, and the bass clarinet and cello in measure 80.

Example 21: The 014 trichord application As one might expect, the coda of the second movement is the place where all motifs interact with each other. Rows 2A and 2B, melodic figures constructed from notes 1-4 and 5-8 of 2A, the guitar ostinato of the Trio and the chromatic figure of measure 47 are found here in a complex contrapuntal texture. The 2As attempt to assert itself (unsuccessfully, as the melody dies out after reaching note 9) in the mandolin, bass clarinet and guitar parts is particularly interesting.

Example 22: Melody 2A in the coda. It is apparent that the serial technique is the important compositional method used in the Serenade. Possibly at first the serial procedure was thought of as only an extension of the ground bass, as seen in the first movement. Melody 1A, although treated serially, is more a melodic unit than a row. This may due to its relatively short length and its frequent occurrences with the same rhythmic figure. Melody 2A of the second movement, on the other hand, is much longer and always occurs with various rhythmic units, therefore sounds differently each time it is presented. The transformation here is thus a manipulation of the series, not the melody. In this movement, one also finds some extra notes interrupting the row. This interruption does nevertheless emphasizes the small motifs already embedded in the series and adds depth to Schoenbergs music. Schoenbergs mastery of motivic handling can be traced back to his early work in the late Romantic style such as Verklrte Nacht, Gurrelieder, and Pelleas und Melisande. Here, at the frontier of his new method of composing, we see the composers continuing preoccupation with the motivic development in the Serenade. A variety of melodies and harmony are achieved simply with a few rows and pitch class sets such as the 016 and 014. His concern for long-range temporal control may be seen in the way a movement centers on a specific pitch or axis, a technique which later his pupil Anton Webern would rigorously incorporate into his own music. Next time we will explore the complete serial movement as well as the first twelve-tone movement of the Serenade.

Bibliography Forte, A. (1998). The Atonal Music of Anton Webern. New Haven: Yale University. Forte, A. (1973). The Structure of atonal music. New Haven: Yale University. Rahn, J. (1980). Basic Atonal Theory. New York: Schirmer. Salzman, E. (1974). Twentieth-Century Music: An Introduction (2nd ed.). New Jersey; Prentice Hall. Schoenberg, A. (1987). Arnold Schoenberg: Letters. Berkeley: University of California Press. Schoenberg, A. (1984). Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. Berkeley: University of California Press. Simm, B. (2000). The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923. New York: Oxford University. Straus, J. (1990). Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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